The tournament moves into the bracket tomorrow, so here's what happened on a wild Wednesday
July 24, 2024 by Benjamin Rees in Recap with 0 comments
Ultiworld’s coverage of the 2024 World Junior Ultimate Championships is presented by Spin Ultimate; all opinions are those of the author(s). Find out how Spin can get you, and your team, looking your best this season.
WJUC has reached the halfway point, with its typical dose of comebacks, upsets, and everything in between. Mixed wrapped up power pools and advanced into the week’s first bracket games, Women’s continued their own power pools with teams scrapping for semi-final spots, and Open finished the pool phase with what turned out to be de facto knockout matches of their own. Strap in folks, it’s gonna be a wild ride.
Women’s
The women’s division continues to play power pool games, with teams vying for not just progression into the semi-finals but also any possible mental edge they could gain over a potential opponent they may face there. After Italy gave it their all yesterday, there were questions going into their game against Japan in the morning as to how much energy they would have left in the tank. Given the way the first half was unfolding, it appeared they may have over-exerted themselves, with Japan building themselves a 4-2 advantage. Just as they were able to against the USA, Italy began to fight their way back into things, scoring six of the next seven to take an 8-5 lead into the interval, although both sides were far from their fluent best with the last point of the half taking over 21 minutes before Sofia Albani found Lucrezia Grossi to finally give both teams a well-earned rest. After Japan held out of half, another grinder of a point ensued with the Italians again coming away having scored after another 21-minute epic. The two sides traded out to give Italy a gritty 10-7 win. France continued to show their dominance in beating Great Britain 15-2, while the morning’s other game saw the two North American powerhouse programs, USA and Canada, do battle. The Americans showed no after-effects of yesterday’s tussle as they blew their opponents away in a 15-4 win where Canada looked to give the whole squad some run and rest some of their top players.
The afternoon’s power pool matches all had a similar feel. Canada were able to bounce back well from the morning’s disappointment by overcoming Great Britain 15-6, while Japan proved no match for an on-song USA in a 15-5 American victory. The big surprise of the round came in the battle of the continent’s best, as France and Italy faced off in a rematch of last year’s EYUC final. As it was in Padova, so it proved to be in Birmingham, with France absolutely ruthless, putting Italy to the sword to the tune of a 15-2 final score. Whether this was a case of Italy running on fumes, preserving players for tomorrow, or France simply being completely locked in, the manner of the victory was not one many would have predicted. France have several excellent players, but Zoe Forget in particular is a problem.
USA and France will be the top two finishers, and the two face each other to finish the power pool tomorrow morning to determine the early bragging rights. Canada and Italy will be their opponents in the semi-finals, but the exact matchups will depend on Thursday’s results.
Mixed
Wednesday began with the conclusion of the power pools. If anyone wondered whether USA and Canada wouldn’t treat their game with full severity given that they had already earned a quarter-final place1, those doubts were emphatically answered as they played out a 15-13 slobberknocker on the showcase field. No side was ever more than two points ahead and it tantalizes a potential finals rematch, should both teams make it. Singapore topped pool E by seeing off a spirited Austria 13-11, with Colombia also earning a bye thanks to a 14-11 win over Italy.
Austria then took on Mexico in the pre-quarters, who secured themselves a chance at the top eight by eliminating European champion and pre-tournament number one seed Switzerland in their final pool match with a 15-7 win. When Mexico took half up a break the stands were on upset alert, but Austria quelled those fears with a four-point run out of half en route to a 15-12 triumph. Italy were winless in power pools, but held firm against a China team in red-hot form having won every match in their lower pool, with the Europeans emerging on top 11-8. The other favorites were not so fortunate, however. France carried their positive momentum into a 14-10 victory over the Netherlands, while Hungary were able to convert a huge 6-1 advantage they earned in the first half into a tough 13-11 victory over Poland, who had given a very positive account of themselves on numerous occasions this week.
The quarter-finals will pit Singapore against France and Canada against Austria on one side of the bracket, while on the other side Colombia play Hungary with USA taking on Italy.
Open
The initial pool phase finally concluded today in dramatic fashion. It was set up delicately in the morning session, with Switzerland finishing strong in a 15-11 win over Singapore, while hosts Great Britain continued to keep the home fans happy by defeating Australia 15-13. USA seemed supreme in a 15-1 shellacking of a Colombia team that may well have been keeping some gas in the tank for the afternoon’s endeavors. Belgium and Canada recorded big wins in pool B over Ireland and China respectively, with the pool’s other two matches an entirely different proposition. Japan took on Germany with the winner knowing a quarters place would be nearly guaranteed. In a game with multiple momentum swings, Germany had the advantage of receiving at 12-12 in a game to 13, but were unable to capitalize and for the second time this tournament Shoma Ando caught the winning score on universe point for the victory. Meanwhile, New Zealand continued to deliver entertainment aplenty in stepping up their game to challenge a quality Italy outfit, but in what has sadly become a running theme for the Katipō they came away with another close loss, this time 15-13.
The last round of games had absolutely everything. The top two teams in each pool faced off for bragging rights and quarter-final seedings, but in each case North America toppled Europe 15-9, with USA seeing off France while Canada were able to handle the Italians. The decisive match in pool A saw Great Britain face off against Colombia. In a tight first half, the only break went the way of the Colombians, with GB unable to handle their short-area quickness as they went into the interval 8-6 down. Whatever adjustments the hosts made during the break seemed to work, as their opponents found offense much tougher going, but the two sides continued to trade until 14-13, when the Brits finally broke through for the first time to take it to universe. The Colombians were not shaken, however, as they methodically marched their way down the field for the game winner to break GB hearts and send their players into raptures. Well, for a brief period anyway, because there was a late sting in the tail.
Unbeknownst to the players, victory for Colombia was in vain with the game’s most important goals having already occurred. When Sam Hill scored with a second attempt catch to make it 14-13, GB had already ensured their progress via a three-way tie, eliminating Colombia, and Ben Allen’s score to send it to universe ensured that Great Britain finished third with Switzerland fourth. Victorious Colombia were on the outside looking in, in a twist even M. Night Shyamalan would have thought too audacious.
Pool B was similarly bonkers. New Zealand broke on the first three points of their game against Germany, and it seemed like they might finally deliver the signature win it felt like their play had deserved, only to be pegged back to trail 5-4. They could easily have figured that it just wasn’t to be for them this week, but determined to write their own narrative the Katipō put together a six-point run either side of halftime, and while the Germans would begin to close the gap the Kiwis kicked on again in the closing stages to deliver a cathartic 15-10 victory that extinguished Germany’s hopes of a top-eight finish.
Meanwhile, just a few pitches over Japan and Belgium squared off, with Japan knowing a victory would put them in the quarter-finals while Belgium could win and miss out, or lose and still advance. Belgium bought themselves an early advantage, but Japan were able to wrestle back control to go into half on serve at 8-7. The two sides traded until 10-9, when a Belgian turnover would prove decisive. Japan picked up looking to create late game separation, but Wolf Pannemans had other ideas, grabbing a Callahan to inspire Belgium into a three-point run that proved enough to not only secure a 14-12 victory and a quarter-final berth, but also crush New Zealand who would learn that their exorcizing win over Germany had been for nought, with Belgium finished third, Japan fourth, New Zealand fifth and Germany sixth.
This gives the quarter-final pairings of USA vs. Japan and Italy vs. Great Britain on the top half of the draw, with France vs. Belgium and Canada vs. Switzerland on the bottom.
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Tomorrow marks the start of the business end of the tournament, as the women’s power pool concludes and open and mixed play their quarter finals, all eight of which are streamed on Ultiworld. If tomorrow is even half as dramatic as today, then it’s gonna be very fun Thursday. The full streaming schedule for Thursday is below:
Cover photo by Likkan Chung for WFDF.
This was me. I apologize. ↩
